From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered the Federal Goverment to pay N50 billion to 10 states of the South East, South South and parts of the North Central, as general damages to victims of post-war lethal materials including abandoned bombs, landmines and explosives used in the three year civil war.
The regional court further ordered the federal government to pay N38 billion for the purposes of carrying out total de-mining and destruction, re-building of public buildings, mine centre activities, construction of class rooms, provisions of prosthetics and all other activities affected by the civil war.
In addition, government is to rebuild and or rehabilitate all public/private buildings already identified in the enumerated exercise by the contractors as having been affected by the war or used either as military facility or refugee camp during the war.
The decision of the court was contained in the terms of settlement entered between the federal government and the affected states, which was adopted by the court as its judgment.
While Chief Noel Chukwukadibia; Alex William and Chiemeka Okereke signed the consent judgment on behalf of the applicants, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and Shola Egbeyinka signed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
List of the beneficiary states are Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers.
The suit was brought five years ago against the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Vincent Agu and 19 others, for themselves and as representatives of the victims of the civil war, which included all the 493 victims pre-enumerated by the Ministry of Defence, through RSB Holdings, as well as the communities where these victims are from, which were contaminated by landmines and other explosives remnants of war.
According to the terms of settlement, which was adopted by the court as consent judgment, the Nigeria undertakes to complete the de-mining and destruction of landmines and bombs in the Nigeria civil war affected states.
Justice Chijoke Nwoke, who read the consent judgment, after it was adopted, said Nigeria further undertakes to mobilise RSB Holdings Nigeria Limited and Deminers Concept Nigeria, Limited (fourth and fifth respondents) back to work, to complete the final phase of the on-going removal and destruction of post-war lethal materials, having satisfactorily carried out the first phase of the contract.
The federal government further undertakes to set up in the South East, the National Mine Action Centre in Owerri, Imo state.
The federal government has also agreed to construct one block of 10 classrooms for 50 communities presently barred from using their school facilities because of the presence of bombs and other post-war relics; construction of court houses, churches and worship centers where explosives ordinance were found by the fourth and fifth respondents.
According to the consent judgment, the Federal Republic of Nigeria will pay the agreed sum of N88 billion within a reasonable time not exceeding 45 days from the day of the judgment.
Nigeria, being mindful of her constitutional responsibilities to safeguard lives and properties of her citizens, had, in 2009, contracted RSB Holdings Nigeria Limited and Deminers Concept Nigeria Limited for the purpose of de-mining the areas of South East, SouthSouth and part of the North Central, affected by the civil war.
In the course of the execution of the contract which included pre-enumeration of landmine victims for possible assistance, clearance and destruction of all landmines by government in the mined areas of the South East, South South and part of the North Central, the companies’ respondents found large quantities of anti-personnel landmines, Explosives Remnants of War (ERW), some of which were recovered, seen and confirmed by representatives of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) and the Director General of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
Medical experts were employed by the companies, on behalf of government, to screen and identify the true victims. All the parties to the suit acknowledged that 685 persons were selected and classified as survivors while 493 of them, including applicants on record were confirmed as victims of either landmines or other dangerous military ordinance including locally fabricated weapons hence entitled to compensation, including their families and communities.
Parties to the suit also acknowledged that over 17,000 bombs were recovered and destroyed by the fourth and fifth respondents while 1,317 are still in a stockpile at the Mine Action Centre in Owerri and that large quantity of live bombs still litter the affected communities.